Fiji

DAY FOUR: Today was a more moving around type of day, we started a little while later with a leaving time of quarter to nine, which meant we could all sleep in and have a more leisurely breakfast. That was really pleasant. Thomas and Merrie were up really early and so after they had breakfast they had a quick swim before getting ready for the conference we were attending.

The conference was the PINA Summit which was really interesting and it was good to hear about everyone’s different opinions of the matter they were discussing.

                Once that was over the crew had a meeting of what we were going to do for the rest of the day, who was on what role, what that role involved and what we would need to do to achieve that specific role. Thankfully everyone now has a role and knows what they have to do.

                Once that productive meeting was over we all piled into the bus with the plastic seats and no seatbelts and went into Suva so that we could meet Leslie Copeland. On the bus Brianna was briefing the Ringwood girls about what they needed to do about their roles and the athlete profiles, Thomas and Natasha were going over questions for Lesley and Merrie was going camera happy with the big industrial camera, which is good because we needed somebody on the video diaries to capture footage of the city Suva.

                We got the Fiji Olympic house and filed into the top room that looked as though it was set up for a meeting. Natasha was fretting over questions and going through them in her mind, Thomas and Katy were messing around with their improvised camera setup made up of tables, boxes and oddly shaped tripods and everybody else was being friendly and sociable.

                The interview went extremely well, the questions were well thought out and spoken clearly, Lesley’s answers were well spoken also and he spoke well with a good accent. ... came up and was very friendly and asked questions, shook hands and welcomed us with open arms, Lesley stayed to ask questions and answer questions that were burning in our minds.

                We all piled into the van and drove not even a kilometre down to road to where Leslie went to school, here we met his favourite teacher and interviewed her about some memories she had of her past student. The interview soon turned into a crying session, when … told her story about how Leslie used to have to walk home after training and do his homework at school in the morning, it was such a beautiful story and quite a few of us were crying by the end of it. The way she told it was so full of passion, the room was thick with emotion and it was almost as if she had taken us, cameras and all back in time and we were seeing it ourselves. This woman was such a fantastic story teller and we must amend her for what she gave Leslie and the story she gave us.

                Once again we all piled into the van and went to take footage of Leslie at his athletics track ... where we all found a bit of humour. The javelin run up where he trained was all scuffed and broken from where his many years of running on it had worn it down. It was hilarious to see little bits of loose rubber lying on the grass from where it was flung off by his shoes.

After we dropped Leslie off at work and explained to his boss why he was late we went back to his school to hear their cheering. When the teachers said cheering we were thinking cheer leading, when we really saw what they meant by cheering we were blown away. They were all in time and the explosion of sound as we entered the doors was enough for anybody’s spirit to lift, all the boys were happy and cheering, nobody was sitting out and their welcoming to our crew was fantabulous!

                Our day wound down to a close as we finally ate a very late lunch and began our drive back to The Pearl resort, where we were staying, Merrie fell asleep on Natasha and Katy and Ed were having a bit of a meeting up the front. After a few hours of relaxing, talking to families and quiet working we all went to have dinner at The Uprising a neighbouring resort (We had quite a lough about the name) afterwards we worked on what we were doing the next day and then fell into an exhausted sleep.
-Merrie xox

Fiji

DAY THREE: So far our TRA trip to Fiji has been very successful with lots of different experiences on the way. One of our main focuses this week is attending the five-day pacific media summit at the Lagoon Resort hosted by PINA (Pacific Islands News Association), which is about building healthy and responsible pacific media culture. This includes a variety of different organisations that support the workshops such as ONOC (Oceania National Olympic Committee). Today at the conference, TRA had a two-hour presentation that we presented to the delegates about who we are, what we do, what we can offer to the youth of the Pacific and about the athlete profiles we are creating ahead of the London 2012 Olympics. We spent all of Monday night and afternoon preparing for the presentation. Each of us had our own individual role of what we had to present at the summit.

We were very busy that day leading up to Tuesday where we arrived at the summit early enough to have a rehearsal before presenting. As we went through the presentation I think everyone enjoyed it. Besides giving an oral presentation, we showcased our content of videos from past projects like Sports Without Borders and artists in residence. It was great to discuss with everyone about what they think of The Reporters’ Academy. Later that night we returned to the resort for the Pacific Media Summit’s opening ceremony dinner, which was great. The food and the entertainment were amazing. The Prime Minster of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama also attended this event, which was fantastic. TRA was able to get a photo with him. By the end of the night, we had had an amazing day and we are looking forward to the opportunities that are to come.
-Merrie xox

Fiji

MY TRIP TO FIJI

DAY TWO: Woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, left for work at 8:15AM. Worked until dinner, ate dinner, changed into bathers, swam in ocean (FELL IN LOVE WITH OCEAN), then in pool, went back up to room, had shower, hopped into jimmy-jams and slept.

                Scenery was beautiful, will hopefully have photographs to show!

-Merrie xox

Fiji

MY TRIP TO FIJI

DAY ONE: Today we had to wake up at 5:00AM which was great! I can wake up really early and not feel the effects at all, but wake up between 6:00-8:30 and I am tired for the rest of the day, although I wouldn’t want to be waking up at 5:00 every morning.

                Dad drove me to the airport and we were the first to arrive at around 6:45AM, I had everything with me although I forgot to bring my camera from mum’s to dad’s with me, which I am so annoyed about! And then I discovered that I and left my glasses in my bag at home, which made me really upset!

                The lift off for the plane was smooth and my ears didn’t pop much at all which is a positive, though I think they will when going back down. I have a window seat and can see the clouds which at first started as huge cumulonimbus clouds, but now they are just the whispy white ones (ave forgotten the technical term for them) and below the clouds I can see the sea. Its sparkeling with the sun and the clouds cast shadows, you can see the waves making ripples and it liiks like gladwrap has been crickled over a blue coloured surface. In the distance you can see clouds that areshaped like mountains and it is as though we are alone in the world, I can’t decide whether I like the feeling or not, its strange. I can also see the wing of the plane which reassures me of where we are going, what direction we are traveling and also how fast we are going.

                There is white in the sea, and at first I thought it was seagulls, but then when I concentrated it looked more like paint flecks done with a toothbrush on watercolour. I haven’t a clue what it really is, then again I don’t want to know either. I happen to be emusing myself with guessing.

                My crew members are all happy and talkative, Thomas had a headache and everyone has been swapping seats except Tash and I who are sitting nect to each other.

                As we get further towards the equator I cannot help thinking about how very hot it is going to be in Fiji and how very much I want to go for a swim as soon as we get to the hotel. Tee-hee

                At any rate I believe this trip is going to be something to remember for a lifetime and am looing forwards to telling you all about it when I get back home. I love you all and miss you already! Although I have officially gotten our family traveling bug!

                Once we landed we were all squashed into an old van for about two hours. The driver drove fast, was the most horrible tailgater and the ride was bumpy. In other words it was so much fun! We went through all of our notes and our schedule for the next five days and what we would be doing and what everything means and basically stuffing our heads with as much information as we could fit in it. We stopped twice along the road; the first was to get food and drinks, we got tomato flavoured chips (which were spicy and really yummy) and I had an orange and mango fizzy drink. When we removed ourselves from the shop we were taking photos and the sweetest little kitten came up to me and decided I was its new owner. I started patting it and then picked it up and Edwina took a photo of us, when I tried to put the kitten back down it wouldn’t leave, when I went into the van again it tried to climb into it and come to me, but it was too small and couldn’t jump up. I wanted to keep the poor little girl, instead I named her teapot and we were on our way.

                The second stop we made was a toilet stop at a bits and bobs for tourists to buy shop where I fell in love with a dress. When we got back into the van Natasha and I found two cockroaches, it was so gross!

                When we got to the hotel it was dark, so we checked into our rooms, changed (thank goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then went down to dinner. The hotel was so beautiful, I couldn’t believe my eyes! The pool had multi coloured lights and when you went up a few stairs and walked perhaps three steps you were on the beach, with what looked like floating balls of light in the distance. It was so so so very beautiful!

                After dinner we went and changed into our bathers and went for a swim in the pool. I was really scared that there would be Cain toads swimming in there as they were hopping all around the poolside, but it turned out to be fine. No fantastic!

                After the pool we went up to our rooms, had a shower (YAY!!!!!) and hopped into bed. So all in all our first day was pretty damn aazing and I feel as I am the luckiest girl ever!

                And that’s because I am.

                -Merrie xox

Wave Hunter

Name:  Wave Hunter

Author:  Beth Webb

Series:  Star Dancer quartet, book three

Review:

This thrilling third instalment into the Star Dancer quartet by author Beth Webb is filled with hummer even in the most dangerous of times “We must obey. The chickens have spoken!”  Is just one of the many funny lines included in this book, Wave Hunter is bursting with magic and unknown facts about ancient Britain and Rome, the book is filled with adventure, secrets, mysteries, love and loss. The story is about a young druid-girl with raven hair, but not an ordinary student in the arts who, stick rigidly to spells and potions; this girl is the Star Dancer, whose destiny is to rid Britain of the evil that the Romans bring with them to the sacred shores. The book will have you captivated to the very last word and leave you starving for more, you will be enchanted by every one of the characters and leave you needing to know what happens next. For more information on the book, visit www.bethwebb.co.uk  and see for yourself, what the amazing world of Star dancer can do for you, as it is not s series to miss out on!

Figi

Hey so in two weeks I am off to Fiji for work and may not be able to blog for a bit. Sorry. So I'll make it up to you in the two weeks I have until I go.
-Merrie xox